272 ARRANGING MATERIAL FOR NEW MUSEUM 



Bay and going across to the coast of Ungava. The scheme for 

 myself was to go to Winnipeg and collect what I could in Mani- 

 toba and northern Saskatchewan. My headquarters were at 

 Brandon for the time and, while there, I examined the country 

 and collected and, from there, I went to Moose Jaw and took the 

 train for Prince Albert. At that time, Saskatoon was a miserable 

 little village and the country, generally, was in an impoverished 

 state. I spent a month around Prince Albert and then came 

 back to Brandon and finished up my work and reached home at 

 the usual time. My experiences on the prairie this year were of 

 a varied nature. It was the year of the election that put Laurier 

 in power and it also dated from the time when the crops began to 

 get good in the North West. I gave credit to Providence for the 

 rains and increase of production, while the politicians, of a certain 

 class, gave the whole credit to Laurier, and the new administra- 

 tion. The scheme to irrigate Southern Alberta was being talked 

 of at that time and I was asked to spend a summer on the south- 

 ern slope of the Rockies and see what was the character of the 

 country. 



Having in mind my original scheme regarding the "Natural 

 History" of Canada, I made provision for the continuation of my 

 natural history work and started William S. early in the spring 

 to go to Edmonton to make a collection of birds, so that we would 

 understand bird migrations in that section of the country, this 

 not having been studied before. He made large collections and 

 joined me in Calgary late in June. Prior to his coming, I had 

 gone into the mountains near the sources of Jumping Pound Creek, 

 on the Elbow River, where Mr. A. O. Wheeler was then surveying. 

 While in his camp, I had many adventures but chiefly in connec- 

 tion with the floods that took place that spring in the Bow River 

 and large tributaries. 



We were in the mountains, when the rains came and I re- 

 member that I was then at the head of Bragg' s Creek with two 

 men and we had pack horses. We slept in a shanty and the water 

 came in through the roof and there was not a dry spot to be found 

 in the place when morning came and we found that the water 

 was even standing on the floor. The rains continued and, late 



